Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 183: To ask the Taoiseach the number and the percentage of the overall workforce who earn twice the average industrial earnings; the number and percentage of the overall workforce who earn three times the average industrial earnings; the number and percentage of the overall workforce who earn four times the average industrial earnings; and the number and percentage of the overall workforce who earn five or more times the average industrial earnings. [38484/06]

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The latest results in relation to the distribution of earnings are from the 2003 National Employment Survey. The results refer to a total of 1,440,400 employees out of 1,793,400 persons at work in March. The survey does not measure self-employed earnings and it does not include the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors. Average earnings for employees in the Manufacturing, Mining and Quarrying sector were €15.50 per hour in March 2003. An estimated 8.6% of all employees earned more than €31 per hour or twice the average earnings per hour for the Manufacturing, Mining and Quarrying sector; 2.5% of all employees earned more than €46.50 per hour; 0.9% of all employees earned more than €62 per hour and 0.4% of all employees earned more than €75.50 per hour. The National Employment Survey (NES) is being undertaken on an annual basis from 2006 onwards and the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is planning to publish the results of the March 2006 survey in the middle of next year, 2007.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 184: To ask the Taoiseach the reason employment statistics are not provided by county; his views on whether this is unacceptable and impedes the pinpointing of employment and unemployment trends in specific counties such as Donegal which experience particular problems. [38566/06]

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) which began in September 1997, has as its main purpose the production of quarterly labour force estimates that include the official measure of employment and unemployment in the state (ILO basis). The legal basis for the survey is EU Council Regulation 577/98 which stipulates that Member States must conduct a continuous labour force survey yielding quarterly results of acceptable accuracy at State and regional levels. In Ireland's case the regional requirement refers to the eight Regional Authorities. The QNHS has been designed to meet these requirements in an efficient manner and this involves interviewing over 30,000 households (approximately 2% of all households) throughout the country each quarter. This is a huge sample in absolute and, in particular, relative terms but it is still not sufficient to provide labour force estimates of sufficient quality at a county level. The accuracy of the estimates is directly linked to the size of sample and the provision of county data to the standards set for regional figures would necessitate a quadrupling of the current sample. For cost, response burden and other practical reasons such an increase is not considered to be a viable option. Details at a county level on employment and unemployment are available from the Census of Population on a five yearly basis while indications on unemployment based on the Live Register are available for local offices within each county each month. These data, taken in conjunction with the quarterly data on regions from the QNHS, provide a cost-effective means of monitoring trends in the labour force at sub-national level.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 185: To ask the Taoiseach the median earnings at present and in each of the past five years. [38567/06]

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The latest results in relation to the distribution of earnings are from the 2003 National Employment Survey. The results refer to a total of 1,440,400 employees out of 1,793,400 persons at work in March 2003. The survey does not measure self-employed earnings and it does not include the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors. The results for March 2003 showed that the median earnings of all employees was €13.08 per hour, i.e. half of all employees earned less than this amount and half earned more. The National Employment Survey (NES) is being undertaken on an annual basis from 2006 onwards and the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is planning to publish the results of the March 2006 survey in the middle of next year, 2007.